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IG: FBI Gave Inaccurate Statements on Surveillance
WASHINGTON - The FBI gave inaccurate information to Congress and the public when it claimed a possible terrorism link to justify surveilling an anti-war rally in Pittsburgh, the Justice Department's inspector general said Monday in a report on the bureau's scrutiny of domestic activist groups.
The FBI overstepped its authority in investigating left-wing domestic groups after the September 11, 2001 attacks and then misled Congress about its actions, an inspector general's report has said. (AFP/File/Mandel Ngan) Inspector General Glenn Fine said the FBI had no reason to expect that anyone of interest in a terrorism investigation would be present at the 2002 event sponsored by the Thomas Merton Center, a nonviolent anti-war and anti-discrimination group.
The surveillance was "an ill-conceived project on a slow work day," the IG stated in a study of several FBI domestic terrorism probes of people affiliated with organizations such as Greenpeace and the Catholic Worker.
Earlier, in statements to Congress and in a press release, the FBI had described the surveillance as related to a terrorism investigation.
In a letter to the IG, FBI Deputy Director Timothy Murphy said the FBI regrets that inaccurate information was provided to the FBI director and Congress regarding the basis for the agent's presence at the rally.
The IG said a domestic terrorism classification has far-reaching impact because people who are subjects of such investigations are normally placed on watchlists and their travels and interactions with law enforcement may be tracked.
The FBI has broad definitions that enable it to classify matters as domestic terrorism that actually are trespassing or vandalism, the inspector general said.
Regarding the Pittsburgh rally, controversy erupted in 2006 over whether the FBI had spied on protesters at the event several years earlier because of their anti-war views.
At the time, the FBI issued a news release saying the surveillance had been based on an ongoing investigation.
FBI Director Robert Mueller told a Senate hearing that the bureau had been trying to identify a particular individual believed to be in attendance.
The FBI's statements to Congress and the public were not true, said the IG, who found no evidence that the FBI had any information at the time of the event that any terrorism subject would be present.
According to the IG, the Office of the Chief Division Counsel in the FBI Pittsburgh Field Division created a document that said the surveillance was supposedly directed at an individual living in Pittsburgh who was of interest to the FBI based on evidence developed in a terrorism probe.
"We determined this version of events was not true," said the IG.
The inaccurate statements may have been inadvertent, but the IG said it is more likely that the document reflected an effort to state a stronger justification for the surveillance.
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34 Comments so far
Show AllWhy would the FBI , or , any other government law enforcement agency, or any private contractor create/lie about suspects or a potential terrorist threat.
Gee , perhaps the fact that they can without legal consequences from a lawsuit seeking damages has a lot to do with it.
Or, in an area where there is no terrorist activity, you local agency can not get any DHS money to build a greater anti terrorist agency.
Its about perception, money, fear and power.
Its bull shit, the PATRIOT ACTS give greedy power hungry assholes reasons to lie, abuse peoples lives, trash reputations, slander people, and ruin peoples lives.
And they dont even have to tell anyone what they are doing and why.
We are all practice targets, and expendable for the egomaniaical bully's that have new jobs .
I say shit can immunity and the patriot acts, let the law suits fly, and fkem, these bastards dont give a crap about your rights, I say fkem , sue them, and their company's, show them no mercy, just like they did there victims.
I know what I am talking about, i have been a victim of torturous community watch , right wing Christian vigilante, law enforcement bull shit for 3 years 24/7.
I can tell you this, the slander , private information of my life, humiliation, stalking , mobbing , was enough to drive anyone insane or commit and act of violence.
I say fkem, but before we do, put them under the same 24/7 extreme tail gating surveillance they did to me, I bet these MFs would not last a month without shooting someone.
Jail time , for them and their training masters.
Your God Dam right I sound mad, I have been stalked and physiologically tortured by these self righteous right wing Christian pricks for three years 24/7,
If could, I would have them publicly ridiculed for being stazi , anti American , unconstitutional pricks, and then sue them for every penny, I would in a heart beat.But those pricks bush/Cheney/Obama and the supreme court wont lift the immunity or the patriot acts.
Thanks to these torture pricks, I will be fed up the rest of my life, I fkn hate hate them.
Do you want to tell why they have been stalking you?
Great post --
Fat chance to overturn anything like the Patriot Act with
Obama in the White House --
Looks like if we want any truly liberal/progressive reform
we need to start looking for a new Dem candidate in 2012.
Any other suggestions?
Unless we do -- fat chance for getting anything else we need
done --
"According to all myth, the female - not the male -- gives life"
Other suggestions? Yes, find another party to support.
The Dem and republicans have clearly demonstrated that they're essentially the same party.
q
Forget parties - look to independent individuals without corporate/war profiteering ties and a past reflecting true understanding of the needs of the planet and people.
I would agree that electing non-professional pols without party attachment or pulling names from a bin would be better, if there were a real democracy at work: however....
"ill conceived on a slow work day" good grief, with the world filled with terrorists that hate our freedom, jihadists lurking around every mosque, not to mention the usual hunt for bank robbers, kidnappers, drug dealers, etc.,
its hard to imagine a slow day at the FBI.Watch what you say. Be careful who talk to and what goups you frequent.
The leash is getting shorter and shorter.
Every day is a slow day justifying lies by the FBI terrorism group.
There were no home grown terrorist cells.
9/11 was an inside job folks. The evidence is now indisputable. Dr. Steven Jones and his colleagues have discovered stealth-tech nanothermite explosives in all dust samples from the WTC collapse.
Al qaeda had no serious role in the 9/11 attacks.
The Patriot Act is merely a power grab to quash public dissent.
911 was an inside job everywhere except in Washington Deceit. WTC #7 and nano thermite are the smoking guns, but there seems to be a complete censorship by the MSM whores. Myth Busters has been told not to " go there " and even Amy Goodman seems to be avoiding the topic. I have no evidence and I may be wrong, but I have always felt that WTC #7 was suppose to be hit by the plane that supposedly went down in Pennsylvania and something went wrong with that part of the plan. You would think the murder of around 3,000 American citizens on 911 would now be discussed non-stop 24/7. This has to be one of the most evil cover-ups in American history.
Of course no 'respectable' person could possibly believe that Americans attacked their own.
Except, of course, that the vehicle that struck the Pentagon struck the one side that was most sparsely staffed & under reconstruction.
Except of course that Atta's passport was mysteriously found on a vast pile of smoking rubble -- how when he was supposed to be in the heart of the conflagration . . . ?
Except of course that everyone knew that there was no significant financial target in the "World Trade" Center while the NYSE was perfectly safe . . . Except that the attacks were not scheduled in the middle of the day when maximum carnage could have been created . . .
And what will be the consequences for lying to Congress? Last I heard that was called perjury and punishable under law.
Anyone should know by now, not to be sworn before testifying.
Didn't we learn anything from the Bush-Cheney Criminal Enterprise?
Still, no problem, if you're not one of the designated patsies.
If 'Homeland Security' doesn't know the whereabouts of this crackerjack, shouldn't the terror-alert-color be adjusted accordingly?
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10260/1088164-454.stm
Who were the FBI agents involved? And have they been advised to hire attorneys? I would say probably not! They won't even get a slap on the wrist for providing false information to an investigation! They, probably will be at the top of the next promotions list!
Pennsylvania Governor Rendell to Pennsylvania residents: Oops, sorry about our state hiring a contractor to spy on citizens of our state. I'm embarrassed. Oh, did I mention, we hired an Israeli company to do the spying on you. No I didn't. Strike that last remark. By the way, nobody will will be held responsible for the spying.
FBI to the IG: Oops, sorry we lied to Congress when we said the justification for spying on people in Pennsylvania was terrorism. You know, it was just a slow work day and we forgot all that mumbo jumbo stuff about rights and the Constitution. By the way, no one will be held responsible.
Those damn peaceniks, animal lovers and treehuggers, trying to create peace and healing in the world through non-violence. Why can't they just conform with the rest of the violent warmaking psychopaths, sheesh. ;-)
I am not aware of any pagans who believe in Satan, let alone worship him/it.
It is my understanding that Satan is a Judeo-Christian-Islamic character/invention. Why would a pagan even believe in the existence of Satan?
Can you elucidate, please?
I know a bit about cointelpro but Rahm, please do not blame the FBI for this one.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100920/ap_on_re_us/us_chicago_bomb_arrest#mwpphu-container
The divisions on the left are going to get a lot worse before they get better - especially as election season rolls around. This time I'm not listening to anyone who tells me a third party vote is a vote for Republicans.
The last two presidential cycles proved to me that a vote for a Democrat was a vote for Republican policies which the Repugs couldn't even get passed with a majority in both houses. We can thank the spineless and corrupt Dems for ALL of the most atrocious policy changes over the last decade (and before - see NAFTA and welfare reform). The Repugs LOVE to get Dems to pass the worst bills. And the Dems are either corrupt and complicit, or simply pussies who want to appear 'bipartisan', and keep their jobs.
I think it's time to get serious, and send both sides of the corporate party packing - but I expect that things will get a whole lot worse before people start waking up to the fact that you can't make deals with snakes.
Bornfreemen, your comments are RIGHT FUCKING ON. Mind you, your spelling is atrocious, but I'm a bit of a fanatic on that score.
Fuck the 'Christians', fuck the FBI, and fuck every last testosterone-poisoned imbecile in America whose reaction to the 'Patriot Act' (which all should SPIT upon, publicly) and the explosive growth in security and surveillance industries is 'Yeehaw! Ah'm gonna make me a shitload o' money, an' shoot terrrr'ists and gooks an' Muslims, an' that fag traitor Bradley Manning.' THAT is the level of discourse in the United Shitholes of America. The 'Patriot Act' is toilet paper, with NOTHING to do with 'patriotism'. Wipe your ass with it and post it on Youtube, or better still, mail it to that piece of shit Cheney.
But then the U.S. is a cartoon country where they trot this bullshit out just as often as they uselessly fly the flag from every square inch of real estate they can get a flag on. Americans are terminally fucked in the head about this 'patriotism' thing, and they're so deluded they've no mass apprehension of the HELL they now are 'patriotic' towards. They are like teenage masturbators, and their pornography is a farcical, lost and uneducated notion of 'patriotism'.
Fucking pathetically sad, really. But as long as money, masculinism and militarism are their religion, they will head down this road to their own version of hell.
There will be civil war. In the meantime, yes, spy back on the FBI and the rest of these evil pricks, and since torture is fashionable in Bush's/Obama's America, torture some of these right-wing 'christian' fundamentalist scum who think they deserve to run the country. I'm no fan or endorser of torture, but I would likely change that position when it comes to Cheney, Bush and the entire Bush family, and most of the so-called 'Christian' screaming arseholes in America. Fuck these people. Progressives and people for actual peace need to stand up to the FBI, the excuse for a government, the right-wing 'christian' mob.
And if it takes blood running in the goddamn streets to get real justice for democracy and people, in the failure that is the U.S., bring it the fuck on. The corporatists, the military, the 'christians', and the shit pulling Puppet Obama's strings are not going to stop. Understand this, and prepare for this, or be in for the shock to end all shocks.
"gave inaccurate statements"
Is that sort of like "mistakes were made?" Is that the current euphemism for lying out your distal digestive orifice? If someone lies under oath, can they now say that it wasn't really a lie, it was only an inaccurate statement?
I don't recall.
If they would lie to you about what constitutes a terrorism threat, why would you believe anything they say about anything?
How many times do you have to catch your wife in bed with the mailman before you don't trust her anymore?
You would have to be an idiot.
.......and that brings us to what the government os peddling happened on 9/11.....the biggest lie in your lifetime!
"The FBI gave inaccurate information to Congress and the public ..."
Inaccurate information? The author, little Petey Yost, would have preferred to be honest and say that they lied, but apparently he is too much of a pussy to use plain English.
There was nothing inaccurate about it: they intentionally lied to congress. By the way, perjury's a criminal act which congress will do nothing about because they are just as gonad challenged as little Petey Yost.
We Are From The Government, And We Are Here To Help You
"The surveillance was "an ill-conceived project on a slow work day," the IG stated..."
"A slow work day"? Who are they kidding? You would think that if they only focused on the crooks in Congress and the White House that they would have enough work to keep them busy for years, perhaps decades!
The AP is pushing the tacit assumption here that spying on U.S. citizen groups is some kind of "anomaly".
What's important to remember though is that the FBI was created to crush radical social movements. The FBI's primary function is to crush serious political dissent -- they did it in the 1930s with the radical labor movement, they did it in the 1960s with COINTELPRO, with CISPES in the 1980s, and they've been doing it recently. They are just doing what they were designed to do. They are a domestic intelligence agency.
To learn a bit more about the history of the FBI, I'd take a look at Churchill and Vander Wall's "Agents of Repression" ...
" The FBI's primary function is to crush serious political dissent ". If they were still here, JFK,RFK,MLK, Malcolm X, the Chicago, Black Panthers, Paul Wellstone, and many, many more would certainly agree with you. Calling their headquarters in Washington D.C. the J. Edgar Hoover building is an insult. The name should be changed to the Fascist Boys Institute headquartered in Washington Deceit!
"Inaccurate Statements" does not approach the reality of fbi murderous corruption.
Fear Less The Underclass who are often branded as 'criminals' Than The *Traitorous Thugs & Assassins Of The fbi/cia.
The unlawful antics of the criminally minded fbi and cia agents serve to remind us all that the world and Humanity are under seige by the very authorities sworn to defend Liberty:
http://www.sosbeevfbi.com/part4-worldinabo.html
http://sosbeevfbi.ning.com/forum/topics/americans-embrace-their
QUESTIONS! Geral Sosbee
*"The traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in
accents familiar to his victims, and he wears
their face and their arguments, he appeals to the
baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men.
He rots the soul of a nation...he infects the
body politic so that it can no longer resist. A
murderer is less to fear. "
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman orator, statesman 42 B.C.